After months of speculation, the official line-up has been announced for this year’s Electric Picnic, which returns to Stradbally Hall Estate from September 4 to 6.

The headline attractions include the newly reformed Orbital, Flaming Lips, Basement Jaxx, Madness, Klaxons, Bell X1, Fleet Foxes and MGMT who are playing the Picnic as one of only a handful of European summer festival dates.

Also confirmed to make their first ever Irish appearance – it’s only taken ‘em 33 years! – are US disco legends Chic.

Meanwhile, we’re delighted to announce the return of the Hot Press Chatroom, which in the past has allowed festival-goers to get up close and personal with the likes of Bloc Party, Primal Scream, New Order and Elbow and promises more of the same this year.

Also returning are The Comedy Tent, David McWilliams’ Leviathan, Body & Soul, Thispopbaby’s Palace of Performance, Myth & Discotheque and the Greencrafts area which proved such a big hit in ’08.

It was an amazing weekend at Stradbally, with highlights coming thick and fast. The Hot Press Chat Room was buzzing all weekend long and the music was phenomenal.
What was your favourite musical performance of the weekend?

After much “will it/won’t it?” speculation, this year’s Electric Picnic is definitely going ahead with a line-up announcement on Thursday April 25. Needless to say, hotpress.com will be all over it like a rash!

The Sex Pistols are back! In what has the look of a major coup for the event, punk’s great trailblazers are among this year’s headliners at Electric Picnic 2008, which takes place in Stradbally over the final weekend in August.

Annual article: The Electric Picnic wasn’t just one of the musical events of the year; it also let us chow down and have a natter with some of the top pop combos of the day, including Bloc Party, Gang Of Four and New Order.

The legends - yes, legends - that are Gang Of Four are quizzed. But be warned: they request the lighting to be turned off, so this is more of an audio thing and less of a video thing...

06 Oct 2006 - Video

They said it couldn’t be done, but this year’s Electric Picnic achieved the impossible by being even more joyous, vibey and action-packed than its predecessors. Hot Press was in the thick of things as 200 acts and 30,000 music lovers descended on one very big house in the country.

Along with the music, beer and scoffing, there was some serious talking done at the Electric Picnic. Shilpa Ganatra was taking notes as The Chalets, Flaming Lips, JJ72, Bob Mould, James Blunt, Tommy Tiernan, Declan O’Rourke and The Devlins were subjected to a public grilling by the Hot Press journalistic elite. And John Walshe.

Photos: they're the next best thing to being there, and an even better thing in you were actually there. Our resident snappers Andrew Duffy, Graham Keogh and Karla Healion are on hand to catch all the action. See the fruits of their labour here...

Fatboy Slim, Flaming Lips, Damien Dempsey, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Mercury Rev and Public Enemy are some of the heavyweight attractions at the Electric Picnic, which this year is a two-day event taking place on the Stradbally Estate, County Laois on September 3 and 4.